I LOVE EVERYTHING! You see, Aruze Interactive has recently revealed that it is over 60% finished on the development of Shadow Hearts III, which means that from now until they inevitably announce the North American localization, my favorite running joke EVAR can be resurrected for the benefit of all. On this august occasion, I therefore invite you to start asking me if I know about this release date as soon as possible, because nothing is more fun than answering the same question seventy times.

Except you, Zach. My correlation between release and the fistulization of your face still stands.

Ramblebox

McLelland:"We just hope that the Lebanese people can hold a free election untainted by outside government interference."
Stewart: "You know, I think I've figured out Bush's foreign policy... He's exporting irony to the world!"

-AL

L E T T E R S

YAY!

Hey goog or cast,
I just read on another game site that SHadow hearts three was confirmed in a
video that came with the shadow hearts 2 directors cut in japan. Have you
heard anything about this yet? ALso this is more of a general question then
an rpg question but, Why in many games with any form of ranking system do
the rankings go from D or E up to S. Is there some reason for this I'm
unaware of?

THanks for your time,
MArc

ANDREW

Wow, Marc, you really got in under the wire there! As you may notice on our index currently, we are in fact aware of this situation, and I encourage you to mail back every week asking if it's been localized yet. Internet, I love you!

In terms of ratings, I guess S just stands for "Super" or something. It's kind of like grades... you can't get an E, just an F.

For some odd reason I stopped playing SH2 even though I do enjoy the
game. But now with the announcement of SH3, I think I'll pick it up
again once I polish off ToS. It seems pretty interesting, what with the
shift in time frame, and the impression that the game will spend a good
amount of time in that one country south of Canada.

So Cast, knower of all there is to know, do you know when this fine fine
title will make its way to the good ol' US of A?

~Philphilphil

ANDREW

In light of that last letter, I guess I won't be needing this! The answer is still no, though.

Boingy, Boingy!

Dear answerer of all possible questions one might have in the course of his
life, at least game related;

Has anyone you know played the game Y's VI since it came out a couple of
days ago. I played the demo version, and it was fun enough for me, great
action game, but it was kinda hard though, and I dont know the kind of depth
in terms of gameplay it has either. All I can say is that it was fun to
beat on those bastards(enemies) for the short while that I had the game.
tootles
....

ANDREW

Well, Viper, former media head extraordinaire here, swears by the series, and Paws is currently enjoying her way through it, so you can watch for her review to see what she thinks of it. Other than that, we also have the next letter, which claims that the gameplay is, in fact, deep enough for the likes of you. Read on!

The aforementioned letter

Heya Googley-Mel,

In regards to yesterday's emailer (or March 9th's if this hangs in the
void for a bit), that asked the following:

" First off: Crystalis. Nintendo gaming at it's best. It was Link to the
Past before Link to the Past was Link to the Past. 3/4 overhead view, real
time fighting of monsters, build stats, go to towns, help feeble useless
civilians solve their mundane problems. All good. Are there any games out
there that emulate this kinda feel?"

Pick up the new Ys: Ark of Napishtim game for PS2. 3/4 View? Check.
Real time fighting? Check. Build stats, go to towns, help feeble useless
civilians with mundane problems? We've got 3 checks, AND a solid
storyline to boot! I'm just entering the final area and man... this game
is an old-school gamers DREAM. Just a tip, start on 'Hard' difficulty, it
actually makes you pay attention. It's single handedly revived my
interest in new videogames. Here's hoping Konami keeps it going.

So Mr QnAer du jour, what're your thoughts on it, and the series as a
whole? And if you haven't played it as of yet... WHYYYYY?!?!? (Whew! Got
a question in under the gun.)

Adios,

PS: Ayala from CT was a girl...

ANDREW

I have heard good things about it, but I must confess, I have yet to play it. My main reasoning behind that, however, is that I really can't afford to buy games at present, so I do have a legitimate excuse. I'm not sure whether or not Konami's gonna keep the goodness coming; it has the rights to distribute Ys III-V, but it delayed III indefinitely before recently announcing that it would be doing IV, so I would assume that any potential North American localizations depend on sales figures. Handily, it seems people are taking to VI pretty well, so we can hope that translates into decent sales numbers.

Them Valkyries are clawsy beasts

Hey Googleshng, its Spring Break right now and I've been playing my favorite RPG of all time: Valkyrie Profile. I felt fortunate when I managed to find a copy for eight dollars at Family Video and have been playing it over and over. Its so awesome and unique but I was wondering if they Square-Enix will ever Rerelease a new VP or even a port of the PS1 version? I don't know how well it sold when it first came out but copies of it still very well on Amazon.com (even the game guide is worth more than my textbooks). My disk is getting old and I'm worried that it will reach a point to where it won't work anymore.

Thanks,
Michelle

ANDREW

Ah, to live in Japan, eh? Sony recently announced that VP would be added to its PSOne Books titles, a discount line of high-selling PSX titles equivalent to Greatest Hits hereabouts. The trouble is, thanks to Enix's limited production runs of old, VP didn't manage to achieve that status here, so it's uncertain whether or not we'll see something similar. Add that to the fact that the last PSX release of note was FFO, and you've got an unhealthy-looking equation. Take heart, though; the desperate can always import, and learning some dribs and drabs of Japanese will be good for you! Failing that, take better care of your discs.

Oh dear

Andrew -

I read an article in the newest edition of Time (I believe) about
Sakaguchi's music being played on stage by distinguished orchestras.
Has what was once simply called "videogame music" now been turned
into an "art"? I thoroughly enjoyed the score (I suppose that word
adds to the elevation of his tracks to the status of "art") to Final
Fantasies IV and VI, and am glad to see concerts being sold out. Do
you know if those orchestras tour around the country, or was this a
more local event? I'd be interested in more information if you have
it!

Thanks,
Mr. Craktroop

ANDREW

Zut alors, mon ami... Yew have got zee name wrong! It is in fact Nobuo Uematsu, who you may remember from such soundtracks as Final Fantasy IV and VI, whose music has been so delightfully orchestrated, and Uematsu himself has been in attendance at both of the events that have taken place thus far in North America. At this point, the series is being announced one date at a time, but with back-to-back sellouts, you'd have to think they realize the demand is there, and I would think you'll probably see dates in New York and Florida, at least, if I had to guess. For now, there has been one confirmed for the week of E3 in San Francisco.

Unfit for Print

Hey all-knowing QnA person.

I just fineshed Suikoden 4, and get this; there is an event in the game that prevents you from geting all of them 108 stars. That is just wrong. in all old Suikodens i get them charcters right before the end....but now? if you saved after that event, you are doomed to redo a game that was not that good any way.

what is up with that? were all gadin games like that?

oh right....is there a way to get the gadin games? and are they worth it?

some dude"GG, you are t3h uber n00b"

ANDREW

This has been classified UfP because of one thing: Gadin. It's Gaiden. GAIDEN. There have been several Ninjas around to reinforce that fact over the past twenty years, so it really shouldn't be that difficult to grasp. At any rate, I have no idea how the GAIDEN games were, but if you're really curious, you should head over to this site. They've got an unhealthy fixation with the stuff.

C L O S I N G

IN CONCLUSION:

So anyway, my moment of zen today came while watching some newsbroad reading her teleprompter as she reported on the newly minted Videogame Walk of Game, onto which some guy from Atari and Shigeru Miyamoto were inducted. Why you would induct someone from a company with such terrible business skills is beyond me, but I digress... When she got to Miyamoto's name, she paused for a second, blinked and then went "and, uh... the Japanese creator of Donkey Kong", proving to me once and for all that talking heads are freaking stupid. Come on! Romanji is phonetical, for pete's sake!

Anyhow, I wish her a speedy death, and for tomorrow, let us discuss your favorite moments of out-of-touch-with-gaming people botching names, scenarios, or anything involving videogames. Columbine references are disallowed.